South Cambridgeshire District Council considers future use of headquarters

Changes to how South Cambs Hall is used in the future are being considered by South Cambridgeshire District Council.

The purpose built hall in Cambourne is the main base of the district council.

A report presented to the scrutiny and overview committee on Tuesday (November 15), said that with more council staff working from home, options were being looked at as to how to make the best use of the district council’s space.

The current proposals that have been put forward are to rent out space on the ground floor as “cost-effective office space for start-up companies”, as well as third sector organisations within South Cambridgeshire.

Under the plans, district council officers would work on the first floor, which would be redesigned. The report said that a reception presence on the ground floor would need to be kept if the changes go ahead.

The district council already rents out some space to other organisations, including the NHS. Officers explained that under the current plans these organisations would remain on the second floor.

Jeff Membery, the head of transformation, HR, and corporate services, said renting out office space could generate around £300,000 a year for the district council.

Opposition group leader Cllr Heather Williams (Con, The Mordens), raised some concerns about how the changes would impact security at the district council.

She highlighted that businesses may want to bring in clients and said the district council may not then know everyone who is coming into the building.

Cllr Williams asked whether it had been considered to move the council officers to the second floor so that no one outside of the authority would need to pass through the space.

Mr Membery said the district council had already had a contract with other organisations renting space on the second floor. He also highlighted that the first floor had the councillor’s space, and had access to the council chamber.

Cllr Anna Bradnam (Lib Dem, Milton and Waterbeach) also raised concerns around security of staff and councillors, highlighting there had been incidents where some members of the public had been excluded from the building.

Cllr Williams added that there had been an incident where a man had released a box of bugs in the reception area after he had not been allowed further into the building.

Cllr Brian Milnes (Lib Dem, Sawston), deputy leader and lead cabinet member for environment, agreed that a security audit of the proposals would be a “useful idea”.

He said: “I should be mindful of the fact that we do carry a risk in being a building open to our residents, that is part of the service we offer.

“We can't make this building into some sort of fortress that can cope with every contingency and everyone slightly crazy enough to throw cockroaches around the place, or worse, and there are worse scenarios.

“So I think a security audit of our proposal would be a very useful idea and I think Jeff can take that on board and incorporate that into our planning.”

Cllr Williams also said there would be “certain companies” the district council would not want advertising as being based at South Cambs Hall. She asked how the authority would be making sure it was still fair and not discriminating against anyone when deciding who can rent the office space.

Cllr Milnes said he agreed that there were “clearly companies out there” that the authority would “not want to be associated with”.

He said the district council did have a basis to create a policy from on who would be accepted, using the existing investment board and its requirements on who buildings are let to.